Photos: Shuttle prepares for liftoff

Despite nagging questions about safety, shuttle Atlantis prepared for the next flight, its 27th.

By Bill Detwiler, Contributor July 20, 2006 at 9:01 a.m. PT

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Atlantis

The next scheduled shuttle to launch is Atlantis--whenever the grounded fleet is cleared for takeoff, that is. Atlantis made its first flight in 1985 and has completed 26 missions.

See News.com's related photo galleries on Discovery's return to Earth, shuttle repairs, the International Space Station, the launch of Discovery and preparations for lift-off.

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Atlantis crew

The crew of the next shuttle mission take a tour of Atlantis. From left, facing the camera, are mission specialists Michael Fossum, Piers Sellers and Lisa Nowak; commander Steven Lindsey; pilot Mark Kelly and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson.

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docked with MIR

The Atlantis is shown docked to the Russian space station Mir in June 1995 to mark a new era in international space cooperation. It has spent 220 days in space, completed 3,468 orbits and flown 89.9 million miles in total.

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